andie nachgeborenen: Unfortunately, the argument that misery provokes revolt does not seem to be very well supported by the empirical evidence. Certainly misery does not provoke revolt typically or in any straightforward mechanical fashion. Most of humankind has been miserable for most of its existence in civilization, but revolts are uncommon. One thesis, I don't know how it is regarded by contemporary scholarship, is that revolts tends to accompany "rising expectation," they occur when the badly off see a prospect for improvement that is coming, but not fast enough.
Jim F.: That point by Alexis de Tocquueville in his book on the French Revolution.